Yes, they do have wine in Egypt!

On my recent trip to Egypt, I discovered that not only do they grow grapes and make wine in Egypt, Egyptian wine is good–which is fortunate because it’s the only wine that seems to be available at the bars, restaurants, and the cruise ship I was on!

I arrived in Egypt on the afternoon of my birthday, so after settling in and enjoying the sunset on the pyramids from my room and the rooftop, I was in search of sparkling wine and a place to celebrate!

Nan Akasha suggested we go to Mena House. After a quick, harrowing taxi ride later (they don’t turn on their headlights OR use lanes), and a search under the vehicle for bombs by armed guards, we stepped off the taxi and into the absolutely stunning Mena House, which served formerly as a Presidential Palace. We wandered around appreciating the carved walls, the elaborate light fixtures, and the elegant flower arrangements–and looking for a place with sparkling wine of some kind!

We finally settled into a bar with a live musician and ordered two glasses of sparkling Egyptian wine “Aida” to share amongst our party of four jet lagged women: two from California (myself and trip leader Sequoia Hamilton0, one from Texas (wealth coach Nan Akasha), and one from Vancouver Canada (my roommate Joan Macbeth, a scriptwriter).

Since we were so appreciative of the Aida, the manager refilled our glasses, then when he found out I was a wine blogger, offered to let me taste anything that interested me. While I was tempted, I knew I was jet lagged and with a full schedule ahead and drinking alcohol is not a great idea.

But I couldn’t say no to trying at least one more Egptian wine! So I chose a grenache, and we all shared a tasting. Nan is a big wine fan and an active member of a wine club in Austin, while Sequoia and Joan just enjoy wine in moderation. We were all impressed with this grenache–nice color, fruit, and balance, much better than we would have expected.

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After starting my Art Predator blog November 2007, I began Wine Predator and attended the First Wine Bloggers Conference in Sonoma in 2008 and 2009. In November 2009, I went to the European Wine Bloggers Conference then to the Alentejo Region of Portugal on a wine tour sponsored by Enoforum WInes. In 2010, I won a scholarship to attend the Wine Bloggers Conference in Walla Walla as well as a pre-conference trip to learn more about Washington wine. In 2011, instead of going to the Virginia Wine Bloggers Conference, I explored by VW van the wine regions of the Northwest. In 2012, I participated in the Wine Bloggers Conference in Portland where I gave an Ignite!Wine presentation. In 2013 I won a scholarship to attend the Wine Bloggers Conference in Penticton, Canada. In 2014, I attended WBC14 in Santa Barbara and the Wine Tourism Conference in Paso Robles, CA.

Who knows where I will prowl next? Invite me to your neck of the woods! You can reach me by email: gwendolynalley AT yahoo DOT com.